Meet Sam

In his first term in Congress, Sam Liccardo has focused on tackling the big issues like homelessness, the punishing cost of living, and protecting our Constitution. Despite working in the least productive Congress in modern history, Sam has worked across the aisle to advance practical solutions—authoring bipartisan legislation to expand housing supply, lower health care costs, and reduce everyday expenses for families.

Despite all of the yelling, divisiveness, and chaos in Washington throughout Sam's first term, he has focused on getting something done. The House and Senate have each approved four of Sam's bills to expand housing supply and boost affordability -- a rare accomplishment for a first-term member of Congress in the minority party. Sam led efforts to protect thousands of low-income families from being pushed into homelessness, and convened colleagues on both sides of the aisle to oppose the Administration's unlawful implementation of the immigration laws. He has authored bipartisan legislation to reduce health insurance premiums, lower bank fees, and convert vacant buildings into housing, while securing millions in federal funding for local projects to build housing, reduce homelessness, strengthen infrastructure, and improve public safety.

While working with both parties to advance solutions, Sam has also led efforts to defend the rule of law and hold those in power accountable, and to support litigation to obtain court injunctions against Trump administration abuses. He introduced legislation, cosponsored by dozens of colleagues, to criminalize federal officials' corrupt issuance of financial assets, control the deployment of military for immigration enforcement, and halt the executive branch's violation of appropriations laws.

Before coming to Congress, Sam served two terms as Mayor of San José, where he built a reputation for taking on difficult problems and delivering results. When he termed-out as San Jose's Mayor in 2022, he left the city with a the lowest homicide rate of any major U.S. city, 11% fewer homeless residents living on the street, and a $30 million budget surplus.

To tackle homelessness, Sam pioneered converting motels into housing, piloted innovative homelessness prevention strategies, and developed quick-build communities to bring thousands of people off the streets—helping San José become one of the few California cities to reduce street homelessness in 2022. He resolved longstanding pension reform battles, saved taxpayers $3 billion in retiree costs, improved the City's credit rating, and restored city services such as emergency medical response, libraries, police, and after-school programs from severe cuts during the Great Recession. He rebuilt the San Jose Police Department, adding more than 200 officers, expanding the corps of civilian service officers to respond to community concerns, and pioneered response to unhoused persons with mental health professionals.

Through two ballot measures and changes in the General Plan, Sam dramatically expanded protections for open space and hillsides, including the preservation of the environmentally sensitive Coyote Valley--and launched what was then the largest community choice energy utility of any U.S. city, San José Clean Energy, which today provides San Jose's 1 million residents with 95% GHG-free electricity.

Sam also led efforts to raise the minimum wage, push back against rising utility costs, rebuild critical infrastructure for firefighters and emergency response, and after two decades of neglect and deterioration, repave every San José street. Sam's longstanding work in transit and leadership on the Valley Transit Authority board and on several ballot measures enabled VTA to bring BART to San José, and expand light rail and bus rapid-transit systems in East San José.

Sam launched innovative programs to connect youth to opportunity--particularly in East San José and Downtown -- launching a $10 million privately-funded micro-scholarship program (San José Aspires), expanding after-school and summer learning (San José Learns), bringing computer science and coding camps to libraries for thousands of young students (Coding 5k), and employing thousands of teens in summer jobs and career programs (San José Works). He partnered with East Side Union High School District to expand broadband to more than 200,000 residents living in neighborhoods served by ESUHSD schools. During his tenure, San José saw significant economic growth while also expanding access to opportunity through investments in broadband, education, and workforce development.

That same focus on accountability and results now drives his work in Congress, where he continues to build bipartisan coalitions to lower costs, expand opportunity, and deliver practical solutions for the communities he represents.

In recent years, Liccardo has taught housing policy and local government policy at Stanford University, Stanford Law School, and San José State University. Prior to his service in elected office, Liccardo prosecuted felony sexual assault and child exploitation cases in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, and served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of California. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and Georgetown University. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, and he often appears on national newscasts on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and the major networks. He and his wife, Jessica García-Kohl, live in San José.